Voting machine



Aug. 17, 1937. F. M. ASHLEY vo'rme namur:

Fned'Jul'y 22, 19:53

'f2/aff Patented Aug. 17, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT ori-ica VOTING MACHINE Frank M. Ashley, Great Kills, N. Y. Application July 22, 1933, Serial No. 081,743

3 Claims.

My invention relates to voting machines of the type used in elections for public offices. The principal object of the present invention is to provide means whereby all of the candidates of a.

party may be voted for at one time in a manner known as a straight party vote by mechanical means which operate each of the counter registers arranged in a party row.

A further object is to provide means whereby lo the registers may be operated in succession to reduce hand power required, or whereby a predetermined number of registers may be operated in unison and then a further group operated etc., successively during -the movement of the actuatl5 ing means designed for operating the registers of a party row.

The present invention is a feature of improvement in a voting machine known as the American" voting machine, in which each counter or register records the votes cast for a given candidate and is directly operated by an actuator moved by the voter who rotates the said actuator or key one quarter of a revolution in voting, which movement operates the counter directly to record one vote. To understand the general arrangement of a part of the said machine to which this invention relates, the patent issued on April 15, 1919 to William H. Babcock, No. 1,300,686 may be referred to for the purpose of ascertaining the detailed construction of cooperating parts used with the construction described in the present application.

Referring to the drawing which forms a part of this application:

Figure i is a longitudinal illustrative view in which a number of star wheels are shown mount'- ed on their respective shafts and successively movable by a notched bar which extends across the machine and engages the star wheels to move each of the shafts in a party row. A portion of Figure 1 shows an actuator button which is rotated one quarter turn by the movement of said bar, or which may be directly and individually actuated by the voter to operate one of the count- 45 ing registers.

Figure 2 is a plan view, shown partly in section, and taken on lines 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary view, similar to Figure i, wherein the dwells on the rack bar are of equal length to effect simultaneous operation of the shafts.

Ill indicates a metal panel supporting all of the shafts or spindles Il which extend therethru and are operatively connected to the counter 55 registers i2. I3 indicates vertical strip supports carried bythe panel i0, which also serve to support said shafts and counters. ll-II etc., indicate four sided elements formed integral with the shafts, each of the sides being dlshed as illustrated at l5 (see broken lines in Figure l) to receive 5 a roller i6 at'opposite sides, said rollers each being carried by a looped spring l1 which, in tum, is supported on a stud I8 mounted on the panel Il. Insofar as above described, the mechanism comprising the shafts, counters, rollers and supl0 porting means therefor, together with the panel I0 and strips, is old and well known in this art. Mounted on the outer face of the panel Il are strips i9-i9 etc., which are provided with bearing surfaces on their inner sides to support and ll guide a rack 20. The rack is provided with teeth 2l, 22 etc., spaced apart, each a distance slightly greater progressively along the bar, as illustrated in Figure l, or in series of two or more spaced an equal distance from each other in one zo group and the vnext group spaced from the adjacent group a slightly greater distance, so that the teeth will engage the respective arms of the star wheels 23 successively or in successive group, thus requiring less power to turn the star 25 wheels than would be required to turn all of them the full distance at once. This is particularly useful Where, as usual, fifty or more registers are to be operated by a single continuous movement of the rack bar 20. A 30 The star wheels 23 are preferably shaped as shown in Figure 1 and are mounted in fitted relation on the square portion 24 of the shafts il, on which portions the buttons 25 are also mounted.

Formed integral with the rack bar are dwell surfaces 26, 2l, 2B etc., of a proper height to engage the under side or dwell surface Bla of an adjacent tooth 3l of a respective star wheel, and of a length such as to prevent all of the star wheels from being turned independent of the rack bar after the rack bar has started its travel in the act of turning the shafts and means are provided, not shown, to prevent a reverse movement of the rack bar until after it has been moved the full distance required to turn all of the shafts. In Figure 1, the dwells 26, 21 and 28 are of successively increasing lengths to effect successive rotation of the shafts. In the form of invention illustrated in Figure 3, the dwells 21a 50 upon the rack bar 20 are of equal length to effect simultaneous rotation of the shafts during movement of the rack bar, the construction otherwise being the same as shown in Figure 1.

A lever 29, or other suitable means, may be 56 means of the rack.

While I have shown a rack bar to rotate the tion of a plurality of the shafts and counting 30 registers, including a star Wheel fixed to each shaft and a rack bar for rotating the star wheels and means associated with the star wheels to prevent subtractive action of the registers during retracting movement of the rack bar.

from turning mdependently of therack bar when the rack bar is displaced from its normal position of rest.

ently of the rack bar when the rack bar is displaced from its normal position of rest.

FRANK M. ASHLEY. 

